


Mother Knows Best

by Altenprano



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Light Angst, just some good jester feels, what laura said on talks recently really struck me and here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 12:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17365925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altenprano/pseuds/Altenprano
Summary: When facing the dragon, Jester wonders if maybe her mother was right to stay in the Lavish Chateau, away from the rest of the world.





	Mother Knows Best

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just based on what Laura said recently on talks, about Jester wondering of her mother was right about staying closed off from the world. It's a little reflection on that.

Maybe her mother was right.

The world beyond the Lavish Chateau is dangerous.

There are gnolls and devil toads, and bald men with tattoos and gold teeth. There are nights in a cage, gagged and bound, cold and shivering and hurt, unable to call to friends. There are nights aboard a ship, sailing gods-know-where with a woman who smiles like she knows a million things you do not and all of them could mean death if she wills it. There is running through a temple, swimming deeper, lungs bursting until a blessed breath of air gives some hint of certainty. There is watching- wondering- as two friends spill blood on an underwater altar and there is no courage to cry out and stop them.

The Lavish Chateau is safe, familiar.

Rich color and plush fabric, a playground of glittering gems and familiar faces. Every day is safe, there is nothing but love in that house, for her Mama lives there. It is a place of light, of beauty and love and music- no death or cold or fear is allowed. Others may enter, but the Ruby of the Sea is the queen in that place, and if there is trouble, Blude is always there to make it better, but that never happens, not in the Lavish Chateau. 

She wants her Mama. 

Death is not who she thought it would be. 

There is no porcelain face, peaceful, but cold and distant at the same time, no cloak of ink-black raven feathers, and no small crown of dark stone. Instead, there are gold eyes and blue scales (almost the same blue as her skin), the flash of lightning that streams from a mouth of teeth the length of her forearm. There is a lizard form with wings- graceful for its great size and surprisingly agile in the small space- and she is alone.

The others are gone, and she is alone.

She is alone and afraid and bleeding. Her hand shakes as she grips the charm at her waist, though she cannot bring herself to think of her god. Her god, who was her playmate in the lonely days of her childhood, and the font of her power, has no place in her thoughts as she draws forth what she feels is the last of her magic. She does not even think of her friends, her friends who have left her at the mercy of this beast, who have left her die. 

She does not think of them.

She thinks of her mother. She thinks of the Ruby’s smile, how she moves like she’s almost floating, the soft timbre of her voice when she sings lullabies. She thinks of her mother, safe and comfortable in the Lavish Chateau, in Nicodranas, many days sailing from...from wherever they are, with no knowledge of how her daughter is staring down death in some...in someplace inside a...inside a ball.

Oh, how she wants to be with her mama!

She wants to be safe and warm. She wants to be wrapped in her mama’s  arms, with no fear of gnolls or Iron Shepherds or devil toads who turn people into zombies. She wants to be surrounded by light and beauty and her mama’s singing. She wants to be with her mama, who is maybe right, that the world beyond the ornate doors of the Lavish Chateau is dangerous. 

She doesn’t want to die. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this, and thank you so much for reading! Feel free to leave comments if you have any.


End file.
